Private ambulance drivers are facing increasing fines for picking up and dropping off patients in some areas of London due to ‘low traffic neighbourhoods’ and ‘school streets’.
Private-sector ambulance services are brought in by NHS Trusts to handle non-emergency transport, such as ferrying patients to routine appointments or for hospital discharges, says the Standard.
However, the rise of ‘low-traffic neighbourhoods’ (LTNs) and designated ‘school streets’ is causing complications for ambulance drivers. During school pick-up and drop-off times, when access is restricted to residents, ambulance drivers face a difficult choice of dropping patients off at a distance from their home, or risk receiving a fine for entering the zone. The charges for the fines are passed on to the NHS trusts, and therefore taxpayers.
LTNs are also forcing private ambulance drivers to take longer, more convoluted routes – potentially delaying care and causing distress to patients – or risk being fined.
Peter Wakefield, a compliance officer at ambulance provider On Cue, said: “We pick up the patient, and then the ambulance will get a penalty charge notice (PCN) for going down that road because it’s not allowed at that time. The ambulance would have to stop at the limit of that road and then call the patient and ask them to walk there. What happens if they’re a wheelchair user? It’s those sort of instances councils don’t consider.”
Freedom of information requests revealed that two of the three ambulance providers for Barts Health NHS Trust have received a combined 2,300 PCNs for driving in bus lanes and LTNs. Only 32 of these have been successfully appealed
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